With two weeks left in the regular season, the battle for the four berths in the Colonial League and Lehigh Valley Conference tournaments are in full flight.

In the Colonial League, Bangor (9-2) and Wilson (10-1) hold two- and one-game leads in their respective divisions with five games remaining. Notre Dame (9-2) and Salisbury (8-3) in the South Division and Catasauqua (7-4) in the North are battling for the two other tournament spots.

There are some jellybeans still out there for a few other Colonial League teams, but they'll have to materialize in the District 11 tournament. The most interesting situation is at Palisades, which hasn't qualified for the postseason since 1996-97 and is desperately trying to break that 16-year drought under coach Mike Viglianti.

The Pirates are 7-8 with seven games remaining. The way things look, Palisades has winnable games against Moravian Academy next Thursday, Upper Perkiomen on Feb. 4 and Saucon Valley on Feb. 8. But "Vig" and his players have to steal one from either Southern Lehigh next Friday or Notre Dame on Feb. 5 to make the Class AAA district tournament field.

Palisades has gone 3-1 over the past two weeks and Aldan Mueller, a 6-foot-2 forward, has led the charge. He's averaging 18 points over that stretch to help get his team in position for a shot at the playoffs.

In the LVC, there will be three division champions that will automatically qualify for the league tournament with one wild card filling out the field. Parkland (8-1) has all but wrapped up the North Division. Liberty and Central Catholic, both 7-2, each has one-game leads in the East and West divisions, respectively. It looks as if Easton and Emmaus, both 6-3, will fight it out for the wild card spot with Freedom (5-4) still with a puncher's chance to shoehorn its way into the four-team field.

Social media

Bangor hosted Wilson last Friday in the biggest game of the season in the Colonial League to date, and the Slaters were missing their No. 2 scorer Jeremy Ringland (12.6 ppg.) and key reserves Bryan Pearson and Shavaughn Morris.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Name: Pete Christ

School: Delaware Valley Regional High School

Class: Senior

Position: Guard

Statistics: The 5-foot-11 Christ scored 66 points in the Terriers' 2-1 week. He scored a season-high 32, including his 1,000th career point, in a 72-30 win over Pingry. Christ also scored 18 in a 42-41 win over Perth Amboy and 16 in a 96-66 loss to unbeaten Bound Brook. Christ is averaging 19.6 points this season and has 1,035 points for his career.

Wilson won the game 69-62 but the short-handed Slaters played their hearts out, a fact Warriors coach Bob Frankenfield was quick to point out after the game.

All three Bangor players served a one-game suspension for violating the team's social media policy.

"It was something that was silly and stupid," said Bangor coach Bron Holland. "We try to let them know that what they think is funny might be taken another way by other people. It gets out there and other people beyond their circle of friends can see it. I hope they understand things better after this."

College coaches and athletic officials are continually monitoring their athletes' Twitter accounts, and things that are deemed inappropriate are quickly taken down.

DeSales men's basketball coach Scott Coval has his own take on the social media situation.

"One of my players had something posted at 5 o'clock in the morning once," Coval said. "How can a college kid be up at 5 in the morning? That's what I didn't understand. We tell our guys you have to be careful what you do."

As far as the Bangor Three, all returned the following game against Southern Lehigh on Tuesday. Ringland scored nine points and Pearson and Morris added four and two off the bench in the Slaters' 61-52 win.

District qualifying criteria

Teams still qualify for the District 11 tournament three ways: Either as a league champion, a .500 record or better on their overall schedule or .500 or over on their league schedule.

Teams' overall records are listed on the district's website. League records appear at the bottom of each file.

Life in the NJAC

This is North Warren's first season in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference, and the Patriots seemingly have found a home.

Coach Mike Farrell's squad is 7-5 overall and 4-3 in the Freedom Division. North Warren is currently in fourth place in the division after playing a brutal four games in five days stretch. Moreover, the Patriots lost center Hunter Ackerson with an Achilles heel injury right before this recent four-game stretch.

Ackerson's loss is a critical blow to the Patriots' chances. Farrell does not expect him back until the NJSIAA Tournament, if then.

"He was trying to play with the injury," Farrell said. "In the last game he played for us, he had 15 rebounds and he couldn't even put his heel down on the floor. Not having him in there certainly changes what we do."

Hackettstown, which is playing its fourth season in the NJAC since bolting from the Skyland Conference, is 9-3 overall and leads Jefferson by one half-game in the Freedom Division with a 7-1 mark. Hackettstown hosts Jefferson on Wednesday night.

Hoop Group Showcase

The annual Lehigh Valley Hoop Group Showcase returns to Parkland on Sunday. Three LVC teams, all ranked in The Express-Times region top 10, are taking part in the day's five games.

Liberty kicks off the showcase with a noon tipoff against Council Rock North. Parkland hosts The Patrick School (former St. Patrick's) in the 1:40 p.m. second game. Freedom meets Hudson Catholic in the 6:40 final game.

Liberty (10-5) meets the same Council Rock North program that eliminated the Hurricanes in the 2011 PIAA Class AAAA playoffs, also the final game of Darrun Hilliard's brilliant Liberty career. Council Rock North (13-3) is still coached by Derek Wright, a brother of Jay Wright, Hilliard's coach at Villanova.

Freedom has a tough draw in Hudson Catholic from Jersey City. Hudson Catholic (15-1) features 6-8 center Reggie Cameron, who averages 24 points per game, and has committed to Georgetown.